Leng Qingqiu's departure carried the air of someone who might never come back. Ye Ling sat there for quite a while, yet there was still no sign of her returning.
So… playing around a little shouldn't be a problem, right?
Ye Ling's interest in the little girl cradled in his arms gradually took over.
To be honest, he wasn't worried about Leng Qingqiu misunderstanding him. She was nothing more than a tool for generating Emotion Points, hardly worth giving him a headache over.
What really mattered was how this would look if word got out. If Bai Yiyi and the others heard about it, that would be troublesome.
Still, since Leng Qingqiu hadn't come back for so long, teasing the little girl in his arms just a bit shouldn't cause any issues.
Let it be clear in advance: he simply found the little girl unbearably cute and wanted to pinch her cheeks. He absolutely had no intention of doing anything strange!
"This little one is way too adorable…"
Ye Ling muttered softly to himself.
With no one else around and boredom creeping in, he gradually lost control of his hands, which drifted toward the little girl's cheeks.
Cotton… no, more like foam?
Dreamlike and illusory. Only such an image could capture how Ye Ling felt at that moment.
Unlike cotton, the touch of foam made him afraid to use any strength at all. He controlled his force with extreme precision, terrified that he might pop this beautiful bubble.
The little girl's skin was smooth and delicate, carrying a natural milky scent. Even in her sleep, she revealed the purest, most innocent smile in the world.
In short, she was unbelievably cute.
Ye Ling felt his heart melting.
Whose child was this, anyway?
How could someone give birth to such an adorable child?
I'm so jealous!
For a brief instant, Ye Ling even felt that taking over the role wouldn't be so bad. But he quickly came back to his senses.
The little girl's eyelashes were long, trembling slightly with each breath. From time to time, her small mouth let out a soft, adorable "siya~" sound that went straight to the heart.
Her light golden hair had a faintly stiff texture, yet it didn't feel rough at all. It only suggested that the little girl hadn't bathed for quite some time.
She was wearing a clean little floral dress. Unlike the dresses of the Cultivation World, this floral dress, whether in its layering or the style of its edges, was clearly not something that world would produce.
Earlier, Ye Ling had focused only on the little girl's looks and overlooked what she was wearing.
A person's clothing often reveals what kind of life they lead. Of course, Ye Ling wasn't a detective, just an amateur at deduction.
Even so, judging from the fabric of the little girl's clothes and certain details about her, it was enough for him to infer quite a few things.
To state the obvious first, the little girl was definitely no ordinary person. Leaving aside how she managed to sneak into the heavily guarded teleportation array room, her clothes alone were something no average person could afford.
Ye Ling hadn't noticed the subtleties of her outfit before. But after paying attention to the texture of her hair and then comparing it with the spotless floral dress she wore, even without using the System, he could tell that this dress was anything but ordinary.
[Clean Little Floral Dress]
[Description: A young girl's intimate garment, considered priceless by certain individuals]
[Ability ①: Cleanliness – Ensures the young girl remains unblemished during movement]
[Ability ②: Protection – Prevents injury when the young girl falls from heights]
[Warning: Host, abandon any inappropriate thoughts immediately. The System possesses a unique disciplinary mechanism.]
???
When Ye Ling saw that last line, now a deep crimson, his mind was flooded with confusion.
I'm not a lolicon! I wouldn't get… excited over a little girl!
Honestly, Ye Ling's affection for the child came from the same place as a person's natural fondness for small, cute animals—completely innocent.
Really, who doesn't adore an adorable little girl?
Especially one who's fast asleep!
Compared to a hyperactive brat, a peacefully sleeping little girl was far more Ye Ling's style.
Besides, her exhaustion seemed abnormal. He'd been talking with Leng Qingqiu for quite a while, but that wasn't the main point.
The massive tremor outside the city had shaken all of Tianqiong City, yet the little girl remained completely undisturbed, sleeping soundly in his arms.
Ye Ling began to suspect her sleep wasn't simple tiredness. She was probably absorbing something.
But—
Was she absorbing something from me?
He focused inward for a long moment, only to realize he hadn't lost anything. In fact, he'd gained something—True Qi converted from Spiritual Qi!
It should be understood that with Ye Ling's Deconstruct Difficulty ability, combined with the System's assistance, he could accurately sense whether something was missing or if he had fallen into some strange state.
So even if the little girl were some kind of trap, he was still completely in the dark up to this point.
The most crucial thing was—
[??? Feels Joy Towards Host +2]
[??? Feels Joy Towards Host +7]
[??? Feels Joy Towards Host +5]
Although the numbers were small, the System had undeniably detected these emotions coming from the little girl.
And Ye Ling received such notifications every few minutes. Otherwise, no matter how cute she was, he would have woken her up long ago.
You really are mysterious.
Ye Ling gently traced a finger across the tip of the little girl's nose, then withdrew his hand, feeling thoroughly satisfied.
But in the blink of an eye—
Hm?
Had her eyelashes grown a little longer?
Her features also seemed to have changed ever so slightly.
More… alluring?
What he was holding was clearly a little girl, yet Ye Ling could sense a kind of mature charm from her, the sort only grown women possessed.
Just then, the lights arranged around the small courtyard automatically lit up. Bathed in their warm glow, the little girl seemed no different from before.
Must be my imagination.
Only then did Ye Ling realize that night had already fallen, the last traces of sunset at the horizon swallowed by darkness.
Hopefully nothing happens tonight.
To be honest, Ye Ling hadn't paid much attention to the harassment from the Demonic Cultivators outside the city. He didn't even associate their actions with himself.
At the moment, the Demonic Cultivators were probing the entire Cultivation World. Not just Tianqiong City, but Ying Prefecture and even the Four Great Imperial Dynasties had all suffered these tentative attacks.
It was as if they had some kind of performance quota to meet. Every five years or so, the Demonic Cultivators would stir up trouble a few times, unless they had been caught at the right moment and beaten badly by the Righteous Path Alliance the last time.
But Demonic Cultivators were like indestructible cockroaches. If they couldn't build up new strength in five years, they'd take ten.
In short, the moment they accumulated even a little power, they'd start acting up again.
So Ye Ling merely felt that he had come out at the wrong time. If he had happened to appear during the years when the Demonic Cultivators were lying low, he probably wouldn't have run into this situation.
He waited a bit longer, but there was still no sign of Leng Qingqiu returning. With nothing to do, he realized that he actually missed her a little.
Leng Qingqiu, hurry back so I can bully you already!
"Daddy, what are you looking at?"
Just then, an abrupt yet adorable childish voice sounded by Ye Ling's ear.
"???"
Ye Ling lowered his gaze and discovered that the little girl in his arms had woken up at some point.
Instinctively, he placed a hand on her head, gently stroking it as he said, "Little girl, I'm not your daddy. Don't call people that."
"Really?"
The little girl looked confused. She touched her small dimple with the index finger of her right hand and said, "Don't boys like being called that?"
"???"
Where did you even learn this kind of weird knowledge?
Ye Ling knew that some people liked to fill innocent little girls with strange ideas, but he never thought he'd actually encounter it himself.
"Uh… well, that kind of title does make boys happy, but how should I put it… anyway, just call me big brother. There's no need to go as far as calling me daddy."
Ye Ling, who usually thought himself quite silver-tongued, couldn't even tell what he was saying anymore.
When he looked into the little girl's eyes, those crimson pupils filled with curiosity and pure innocence, he felt completely unable to lie. The last shred of his conscience simply wouldn't allow it.
"Hm?"
The little girl tilted her head cutely, looking as if she half understood and half didn't.
"Wait, what's that on your head?"
Just as Ye Ling was still in a muddle, he suddenly felt something soft beneath his fingers.
He raised his hand to take a look and discovered that, at some point, a pair of goat-like horns had grown on the little girl's head.
Yet these horns weren't hard at all. Instead, they were soft and pliant, with a slightly gelatinous texture.
How did I not notice this earlier?
As the thought crossed his mind, Ye Ling carefully examined the little… no, could she already be called a young girl now?
Her weight hadn't increased much. She still felt like a bundle of cotton. But at some unknown moment, the little girl had grown bigger, shifting from clinging to him to straddling his waist.
Hey, hey, hey!
What kind of situation is this?
If what happened earlier was enough to summon the FBI, this was already crossing into police territory.
After all, the girl in his arms didn't look the slightest bit like an adult.
If one really had to compare, she was about on par with Bai Yiyi. But Bai Yiyi had snow-white hair and that pair of oversized assets on her chest, which at least helped dispel suspicions of her being underage.
The girl in his arms, on the other hand, had a slender build, and her delicate face looked no different from when she had still been a little loli… no, wait, there was a difference.
She had become even more alluring.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Ye Ling swiftly lifted the girl and set her down on the table in front of him—
Tsk, that was careless!
There hadn't been anything amiss before, but once the girl was placed on the table, the change in angles made the atmosphere turn awkwardly suggestive. If Leng Qingqiu walked in right now, she would definitely misunderstand.
He wasn't afraid of Leng Qingqiu spreading rumors. What he really feared was her writing down what she saw and sending it to Bai Yiyi and the others.
"So, who exactly are you?"
Ye Ling stood up, eyeing the girl on the table with suspicion as she lightly swung her legs back and forth.